COnnecting Flights, a film from prairies based company Bubbadog Productions, is playing at the Capitol Theatre on November 6 and 7. (submitted/Connecting Flights)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Independent success

Prairie produced film screening in North Battleford

Nov 4, 2021 | 6:00 AM

An independent filmmaker who grew up in Northwest Saskatchewan will have local audiences seeing his latest project on the big screen.

Connecting Flights, a new film from Bubbadog Productions, will play at the Capitol Theatre in North Battleford this weekend. Producer Dean Busch, who grew up just outside Cut Knife, said the experience has been humbling and a thrill.

“We’re happy with the way it turned out and we’re beside ourselves with the response it’s getting,” he said.

Based out of Central Alberta, Bubbadog Productions usually has their independent films play exclusively on television and streaming services, where they don’t get the immediate feedback they’ve received from audiences this time. The theatrical showings came from someone contacting a theatre in Saskatoon after having watched a trailer.

“Being at the theatre when the film is shown and have the audience members come talk to us after was so positive and a neat experience,” he said. “We’ve had nothing but positive comments from people.”

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The film is an adaptation of an award-winning stage play titled Closure, written by Ron Blicq, the father of one of Busch’s producing partners Ian Blicq. The story follows the journey of a British woman named Claire Summers to Canada, who has recently discovered that her grandfather was an RCAF fighter bomber pilot named Gordon Devereaux, himself having never known that he has three generations of offspring. This is a tale shared by thousands of others in Britain and the Netherlands who have American and Canadian birth fathers.

Busch said that many people who’ve seen the film have told him and the other production members about elements of the story that brought them back to their past.

“We had a couple ladies whose fathers who served in the RFAC,” he said. “They could relate to the feelings of separation from family and reconnecting.”

A former service member himself in the navy and army reserves, Busch said it’s special to have the film shown in theatres right before Remembrance Day. He added that they’ve reached out to multiple Legion’s in Saskatchewan, who will be selling poppies at showings of the film.

“It is important and something that we need to support,” he said. “Especially for our World War II veterans, there’s getting to be less and less of them all the time.”

There are several behind the scenes elements of the making of the film, such as the casting. Busch says it’s a priority for Bubbadog Productions to fill their crews by putting people from the prairies both in front and behind the camera.

“That’s what I’m proud of, though it’s a bit of a challenge when comes to scheduling,” he noted.

Behind the scenes footage of Connecting Flights. (submitted/Bubbadog Productions)

There were particular complications on that front when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Shut down for 200 days, the production was only able to continue after they recast several roles, such as the lead actress, because of travel restrictions from Los Angeles.

“As much as we would have loved to have the original people that we cast, we were super happy with the people that we got,” Busch said. “Some of the performances are just fantastic.”

The theatre in Saskatoon has extended showings for another weekend, while theatre’s in Regina and Fort Saskatchewan are also showing the film. While this moment is overwhelming, Busch said their company is going to stay focused on producing independent content for streaming and television.

“Right now we’re just enjoying that we are in the theatres with some bigger Hollywood names.”

Connecting Flights will play at the Capitol Theatre at 4:00 p.m. on November 6-7. Information on where viewers can stream the film is available online.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com

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